


The Hunt

by WardenRoot



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: F/F, Post 4x11, Root intends to get her back, Shaw has been brainwashed, focuses more on shaw and root than the other characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-31
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-05-17 07:40:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5860117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WardenRoot/pseuds/WardenRoot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After months of being confined to Samaritan's facilities, Shaw is finally being let out. Why? To hunt down and kill the dangerous operative who goes by Root.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Shaw took in the sight before her, the woman she had been hunting for the past week turned around to look at her. Her wavy brown hair fell on her shoulders and brown eyes looked straight at Shaw’s own. Her eyes were sad, tired, but when she caught Shaw’s gaze her eyes lit up. A playful smirk came to her lips and she lazily raised her hands above her head. There was a click and the safety of Shaw’s gun went of. The other woman inched backwards, still a smirk on her lips. There was another click as Shaw pulled the trigger.

 

_1 week earlier._

“Please tell me you’ve got something for me to do, I will shoot something if I have to stay her any longer!” Shaw said, following the old British man, _Greer_ , she remembered, along the hallway.

“Patience, Ms. Shaw, your injuries were fatal, we have to take care not to lose you for good.”

Shaw glared in return, she was tired of being babied. What had happened was a risk that came with the job, which she knew when she took it. The past few months had been hell, she didn’t know how long she had been confined to a bed before she was even allowed to stretch. But her muscles ached for something to do, someone to shoot.

“I’m ready,” If there was the slightest chance of getting out of her prison, she was going to take it.

“I know,” he sighed. “I do have something for you to do, if you’re certain you’re up for it.” They came to a stop in front of a door, on the other side there was a board with pictures and files. The pictures were of a woman, wavy brown hair flowing over her shoulders. Something tugged inside Shaw when her eyes fell on the picture, _probably just excited over finally getting out_.

“Tell me about her.”

“Her name is Samantha Groves, or Root, as she seems to prefer. She’s a dangerous operative with a direct link to our enemy. We believe she’s in league with the person who shot you.” Shaw nodded, taking in every piece of information, every piece of paper on the board.

“We need you to hunt her down and kill her.” Shaw smiled, finally she was going to be back in the field, doing what she’s always done best.

 

* * *

 

“Ms. Groves, are you certain you want to do this?”

“Don’t worry Harry, I’ll be fine.”

“We don’t know what to expect, she might kill anyone of us without a second thought.” Finch knew it was pointless to argue, to try and make Root see reason, but he had to try. However, he knew her chances of succeeding were better with Finch and Reese’s help, which is why they were both at the ready to interfere should something go wrong, but Root had told them both to stay away from her, it could jeopardize the mission, could ruin their chances of getting Shaw back.

“My sources aren’t wrong, Shaw will try to hunt me down, and I have every intention of letting her try.”

“But are you sure flying across the country will help? We can’t help you much if we can’t get to you.” Reese sounded worried, if it was more for Root’s safety or for the mission to get Shaw back failing, she couldn’t tell.

 

* * *

 

Shaw sat at the airport, waiting for her plane to be ready to board. Her bag full of weapons had gotten clearance courtesy of Samaritan, but it was with all the other passengers luggage, she didn’t even have a small handgun on her person should something happen on her way to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Samaritan was worried it could compromise her if she was found with one. Apparently Root wasn’t going to be caught easy, and Shaw had to hunt her down, but Shaw didn’t mind, for as long as the hunt was on she didn’t have to suffer her coworkers looks, some like she was this fragile thing to be handled with care, some like she was going to snap and kill them all. And then there was Greer, her boss, the only one who’s commands mattered almost as much as Samaritan’s own. He looked at her as if she was something he’d created, nurtured into life, and even though he wasn’t the most gentlest of people, he was certainly the one who took the most care around her, choosing his words with more thought than anyone else around Shaw.

The airport speakers drew Shaw out of her thoughts, her plane was _finally_ ready to be boarded. She was in first class, nothing less for one of Samaritan’s operatives. Shaw didn’t mind, she just didn’t care, _the alcohol was nice though_. She wondered if this was where Root had been, when she was the one on the plane only twelve hours earlier.

* * *

  
Root sat in a café in the center of Tulsa, Oklahoma. She had her laptop out, where she was tracking the flight of one Sameen Shaw. It was going to land soon, and if everything went to plan, Shaw was going to get a notification of one Veronica Sinclair having checked into a hotel. Root had picked the alias hoping it would spark something inside Shaw, it was the name she had used the first time they had met. The hotel wasn’t too fancy, Root didn’t want it to seem like a trap by being too obvious, but it wasn’t too bad either. Root had already visited the room, leaving behind the next clue in their little hunt. She was tempted to go to the hotel, to see Shaw, it had been so long, but she knew contact so soon could compromise the mission, and she was not going to waste the opportunity to get her back. When she got a notification saying the plane had landed, she packed up. It was time to move on.

 

* * *

 

Shaw yawned when she got off the plane. It was just about six hours since she had left New York, and now she had to deal with the whole process of getting thorugh the airport before she could follow Root’s trail. Just as she’d located her bags, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She looked at it. She had gotten a notification about a Veronica Sinclair having checked into a hotel, she recognized the name to be one of the aliases Greer had told her about. The notification was from the day before, but the room had been rented for three days, and if Shaw was lucky, Root would still be there. Of course, she discovered, she had no such luck.

The room had long since been abandoned when Shaw picked the lock. She had almost given up hope of turning up anything useful when she spotted something on the bed. It was a white envelope, the words _“Hello Sweetie”_ written on it. Next to the envelope there lay an energy bar, which Shaw eyed suspiciously, but she was feeling hungry, and decided she might as well eat it. She plopped down on top of the bed and opened the envelope.

_“Thought you might be hungry after your flight. Sorry I couldn’t be here when you arrived, but I had some other business to attend to. Better luck next time Sweetie.”_ Underneath the letter there lay a map, which had Los Angeles circled out. Shaw groaned, she had just gotten off one plane and was seemingly going to have to go on another. _But first, she was going to sleep and eat and drink, possibly not in that order._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry for taking so long to update, the reason is a mix of stress from being a studen and general writer's block lately. I've also rewitten this chapter a ton of times, and would have liked to have more done, but this is getting ridiculous so I'm going to post what I have managed to write. I do have plans for this story, so please bear with me here, and hopefully I'll manage to write the next chapter soon!  
> (Also I changed my username, if you don't recognize the username)  
> Also, WE FINALLY HAVE AN AIRDATE!!!! Are you as excited about this as I am?

_Root had been awakened by a text, which wasn’t unusual. She sighed, before looking at her phone. ‘Unknown Number’ – which wasn’t unusual either.  
‘SS is alive. Need to see you. Usual spot in one hour.’ Root stopped breathing, she didn’t remember how. ‘_ SS is alive’. Sameen is alive?  _Did she dare get her hopes up again? All thoughts of sleep had purged themselves from Root’s mind as she started getting dressed. It could be a trap, but if there was even the slightest shot at there being new info on Shaw, Root had to know. If Shaw was alive, if Root had had given up looking when Shaw needed her, she would never forgive herself._

 

Root was once more awakened by her phone vibrating on the table next to her. It was late, she had fallen asleep with her laptop on her lap. She looked at her phone.

_2 people, west stairway_ – Root sighed, this was what she had been waiting for, something to do while she waited for Shaw to almost catch up. She slipped her computer into her bag, then went to stand beside the door, gun down. The door opened and in came two people. They didn’t see Root, she was hidden by the half-open door. The TV was on, this, of course, by design. Just as the characters on the screen started shooting at each other, Root kicked the door close, and shot the two people in their kneecaps, kicking their guns away while they lay groaning on the ground. Then, she proceeded to tie them up and search them.

“You- You’re not-“ One of them tried, but failed, to talk.

“What? I’m not the person you were hired to kidnap, discredit, then send back to their family in pieces? No, I’m not.”

“What do y- What do you want?”

“I want the location of your payment, and the name of your boss.”

“And why would we give you that?”

“Because I have this friend, well at least she used to be my friend, before she foolishly sacrificed herself, was presumably tortured, and I think they took her memories and now she’s hunting me down to kill me. In a couple of hours, she’s gonna get a text with this address. I think she’s starting to get annoyed with me, so I don’t think you wanna be here when she gets here. So, you tell me what I want to know, and instead of Samaritan’s new star agent finding you when she’s bored and frustrated, I’ll have the nice policemen at the coffee shop across the street come pick you up instead.” At the mention of Samaritan, panic arose in the two gunmen’s eyes, and they blurted out anything Root wanted to know. True to her word, she delivered them to the police, and left Shaw a message on the couch, where she had been sleeping earlier.

 

* * *

 

Shaw was sprinting up the stairs, hoping against all odds that this time Root would actually be at the address showing on her phone. She kicked the door open, but instead of being met with brown hair and a smirk, she was met with an empty room. On further inspection, she found an envelope on the couch labeled 'Sweetie', next to an energy bar. It was one of the things Shaw had picked up on from the woman she was hunting, despite never having actually met Shaw, she had decided to refer to her as ‘sweetie’, and also leaving her food. _Did the woman think Shaw wasn’t eating?_ One of the other things she had picked up on was that whenever Root left something for her to find, she would always leave it out of sight from any form of surveillance. She opened the envelope, and inside there lay a letter with an address written on it. Underneath it, the sentence “Wait for my call” was written. Shaw typed the address into her phone, and let out a small chuckle when she saw what it was. _A fucking bar_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If any of you guys want to yell at me about writing or about Person of Interest, or anything really you can hit me up on tumblr @wardenroot


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Con of going with sister to the doctor's: Really, really boring, the first half hour is spent stressing over school, and sister is hurt  
> Pro of going with sister to the doctor's: After the initial half hour, some of the stress goes away at the realization thatI literally can't do school stuff, and I can actually manage to write  
> So basically, I was finally able to finish this chapter because I had to go with my sister to the doctor's, so I guess you should all thank her for being hurt or smth.  
> Again, sorry for a late chapter, I wish I could say it was gonna change, but exams are starting soon and the stress is just consuming me.  
> Also, *season 5 spoiler*, just because I have Shaw pointing a gun at Root with a mission to kill her, does not mean canon has permission to do the same  
> Also, who wants to help me dig a mass grave, as I'm p sure we're all gonna die after next week's episode?  
> Also POI IS BACK POI IS BACK POI IS BACK

Shaw groaned as she downed her second glass of whiskey, sitting and waiting in “King’s bar”, which Root had so considerately given her the address to. She had expected the other woman to actually be there, and had gotten excited about finally being able to put a bullet through her head, but as it turned out, she was now bored in a bar, waiting for Root to make the next move, because somehow Samaritan couldn’t track her, meaning Shaw had to try (and fail, it seemed). Just as she was about to leave, the phone rang and the bartender called out for a “Sameen Grey”. Despite the last name being wrong, Shaw knew it was Root calling, and snatched the phone from the bartender.

“Hey Sweetie, you having fun?”

“Root? What the _hell_ am I doing in a bar in LA?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t keep you company, but I have other things to tend to. I was just calling to let you know that you’ll have company soon. Oh, and when you’re done, I hear the hotel four blocks down is lovely this time of night.”

“Then why don’t you just meet me there now? And why bring me here in the first place if you were never gonna show up?”

“Patience, Sameen. I told you, you’re going to have company soon. Might want to watch the backdoor.”

“Why?” Just as the word left Shaw’s lips, the backdoor opened, revealing three gunmen. She jumped behind the counter and pulled her own gun out of the waistband of her pants. _Not the one I wanted to put a bullet in, but they’ll have to do,_ Shaw thought as she fired off a round towards the three gunmen, most hit their mark, and one of the three fell to the ground, dead. _Besides, might be good with a little target practice._

 

* * *

 

“And you’re certain Ms. Shaw will follow? I have other contacts I can ask, if this interferes with your mission.”

“Don’t worry Harry. You need someone who can get in and out without any fuss, and I have every belief that where I go Shaw will follow. I think it would be good to get her out of the country, hopefully furthering the distance between her and most of Samaritan’s operatives. I just hope Shaw doesn’t miss the sun too much, because where we’re going, you’re lucky to catch a glimpse of the sun between all the rain.”

“You say that like you’ve been there before.”

“Hey John. I had to blackmail this politician once, and she kindly showed me around while we were discussing how she was going to keep me quiet.”

“Yes, well, that is not the sort of thing you will be doing this time, I hope. My contact has already acquired the item, I just need someone trustworthy to bring it here.”

“Don’t worry so much, Harry, I’ll play nice. And I’ll see what I can do about Shaw playing nice as well.”

“Thank you, Ms. Groves.”

“Good bye, Harry. Bye, John.”

Root had been feeling giddy ever since talking to Shaw. She had seen photos and video of her after they started this chase, but this was the first time she had heard her voice, and it had made her want to throw everything away and just run to the bar where she now knew Shaw was. But she couldn't, _wouldn't_ , knew it was too soon, and so she busied herself with making the room ready for Shaw's next clue. She knew it was only a matter of time until the other woman would be done with the gunmen and coming after Root once more, and Root had every plan to be gone by then.

 

* * *

 

Shaw hurriedly made her way out of the bar and relieved a civilian of their car. She knew the woman would probably be long gone, but she still had to try, like she did every time. When she reached the hotel, she stopped the car as close to the main entrance as she could, then ran out of the car. She produced an FBI badge from her pocket, curtesy of Samaritan, and demanded to see the hotel's surveillance room. A shaky receptionist showed her the way. When she scanned the screens in front of her, she couldn't believe her eyes. Exiting one of the rooms was the woman she had been looking for, winking, or at least what Shaw assumed was winking, up at the camera like she didn’t have a care in the world. Shaw had no time to lose as she started running again, she was _not_ going to let her get away this time. 

 

* * *

 

Root sighed as she exited the room. She knew Shaw was in the building, and probably on her way to Root. She knew she couldn't, _wouldn't_ , let it happen, but her heart ached to lay her eyes on Shaw, to wrap her arms around her and never let her go. She was almost at the window that would provide her escape when she heard the sound of someone running up the stairs. It was now or never. Root took a deep breath and her subconscious took a choice for her, a choice which Root had been fighting _not_ to make. Frozen in place, she heard the stairwell door open, and through came Shaw. Shaw was standing there, breathing, moving, and so very alive. Uncertain how much Shaw knew, if she even knew who Root was apart from Samaritan’s “go kill” order, Root decided the safest route would be to play her usual self, so she lazily raised her hands above her head as her trademark smirk fell into place. She heard a click as the safety of Shaw’s gun went off. Root started inching backwards, she knew she couldn’t stay, knew she had to leave Shaw, and she was so close to the window. Just as she reached her destination, there was another click as Shaw pulled the trigger, and Root shut her eyes tight.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> See, it doesn't always take one and a half months to update ~~*awkwardly looks at ULA which hasn't been updated in over two months*~~  
>  Apparently even though the last ep killed me, it didn't kill my motivation, so have one more chapter before I start angsting over my exams  
> Thanks for the feedback and kudos, and I hope you enjoy this chapter!

Shaw pulled the trigger, and Root shut her eyes tight.

 

Root drew in a shaky breath as she opened her eyes again, her good ear buzzing. If she were to turn around, she would see a bullet lodged into the wall behind her, instead of in her head. _Sameen hadn’t shot her._ When her eyes fully focused, she looked over at Shaw. Shaw was doubled over, one hand at the side of her head, the other clutching her gun. It broke Root’s heart, she wanted nothing more but to run to her, cradle Shaw in her arms and never let her go, but she knew she couldn’t stay. Therefore, with one last lingering look at Shaw, she climbed out the window and ran down the fire escape.

 

* * *

 

The moment Shaw pressed her finger on the trigger, a sharp pain shot through her head, along with a blurry picture. She could see a woman on her knees, clutching her shoulder, blood oozing out from a wound. When her gaze dropped a little in the picture, she could see an outstretched hand, _her outstretched hand_ , holding a gun. She briefly registered the metallic sound of someone running down a fire escape while she fumbled after something in her pocket, remembering a conversation with Greer she had had a few days before she left.

 

_“What’s this?” Shaw asked, pointing at some strange vials resting amongst the stuff she would bring on her hunt._

_“This,” said Greer, picking one up. “Is an insurance.”_

_“Insurance for what?”_

_Greer eyed her carefully, mind working around the words he'd use to explain it to Shaw. “When you were shot, your brain suffered some damage. We’re extremely lucky it wasn’t turned into pudding.”_

_“And?”_

_“And, you probably don’t remember this, but after your initial surgeries you started having delusions. You were convinced they were real scenarios that had happened before. This,” he said, lifting the vial in front of Shaw’s face. “Is what made them stop. Now, releasing you into the field on your own can be unpredictable, so should you have these episodes, flashes of a life you haven’t lived, this coupled with some rest should make them go away. In the event that you should have such an episode, I want a full report, and should the drug not help, I expect you back here at once.”_

_Shaw just stared for a few moments, taking in the new information, before snatching the vial from him with a quick “Okay.”_

Shaw let out a sigh of relief as she located the small vial, flipping the cap off with her thumb and quickly draining its contents. Relief flooded through her as the pain subsided, and the picture almost faded from her mind. She knew Greer had told her to rest after, but she had to see if she could find a trace of Root, and so she climbed out the window and made her way down the fire escape. She found herself in an empty alley, opening up to a busy street. She swore under her breath, she’d been so close, and still she had let the other woman get away. Not only that, but everything had happened in front of a camera, meaning Samaritan, and therefore Greer, already knew what had happened, even if Shaw was still trying to figure it out herself. Sighing, she made her way back up the fire escape and into the hotel. She collected the empty vial off the floor and entered the room Root had come out of just a few minutes earlier. Unsurprisingly, there lay an energy bar along with a letter on the bed. She put the letter on the nightstand, opened the energy bar and flung herself onto the bed. It was time for that rest Greer insisted she’d take should she have an “episode”.

 

* * *

 

Root sighed when she relaxed on her bed in one of her LA safe houses. She felt exhausted, she still couldn’t wrap her mind around the fact that she had seen Shaw. Shaw, who was still so very much alive. Shaw, who had fired a gun aimed at an unmoving Root, and still hadn’t shot her. She felt something wet running down her cheeks and realized she was crying. She couldn’t pin point why, she just needed the release, too exhausted to do anything but lay in bed, letting the tears roam freely. She knew it wasn’t long until she had to move on, she had already made her own arrangements to get out of the country and would soon get her cover identity from the Machine. She tried going over the details in her head, hoped she was right and Shaw would follow her. She’d already followed her across the country, it wasn’t a far stretch to say she’d follow her across borders, _was it?_ She decided to mull it over when she was feeling more refreshed. She fell asleep for a few hours, and dreamt of Shaw. When she woke up, she hurriedly packed what she needed and made her way to yet another airport.

 

* * *

 

In Shaw’s dreams the blurry picture resurfaced, but this time it was even harder to see what was happening, the only thing remotely in focus being the woman on her knees. She tried to focus, but the harder she focused the more her head hurt, until at some point the drug started fully working and her dreams went blank. When she woke up, she’d all but forgotten about the picture and the woman. She blinked the sleep away, and when the world around her came into focus she reached for the letter Root had left her. Inside, she found one of Root’s signature notes saying where the enemy operative was planning to go next. Underneath the location, she had written the words “Hope you can make it, Sweetie. It just wouldn’t be the same without you.”.

Shaw made her way back to the hotel she had been staying at to collect her stuff. While there, she repacked her bags so she had only one small suitcase harboring some clothes, the strange vials, her toiletries and a couple of her guns. The rest of the stuff she had brought she dumped in the container behind the hotel, as she made a call to Greer to organize her transportation. If she was going to cross not only borders but also continents, she was not carrying more than her absolute essentials with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's alive and well and no one's getting tortured  
> Also, anyone wanna guess where they're going next?

**Author's Note:**

> This work is unbeta-ed and I apologize for any mistakes as I am not a native English speaker. Comments and kudos are always greatly appreciated, and I can also be found on tumblr @wardenroot


End file.
